Nonrattling latch for houses and vehicle doors



Aug. 7, 1951 w, HAMPTQN 2,563,239

NONRATTL ING LATCH FOR HOUSES AND VEHICLE DOORS Filed Nov. 28, 1947 44 INVENTOR. Millard Ffia mpfazz Z 11 BY Patented Aug. 7, 1 951 OFFICE NONRATTLING LATCH FORHOUSES AND VEHICLE DOORS Willard F. Hampton, Hutchinson, Kane, as-

signcr of one-half ta Ernest G. Woleslageln "Hutchinson, Hans.

Application November 28, 1947, SerialNo. 788,757

2 Claims. (Cl. 292244) This invention is an improvement on my patent, Number 1,708,444 of July 15, 1915, and appertains to a nonrattling latch for house doors as well as vehicle doors and windows.

One other important object of this invention is to make the latch burglarproof by providing a cross cut or notch which will prevent the insertion of a thin blade in the case, in an attempt to lift the latch member. Said blade must now enter said notch, which prevents the forcing of the lock. This construction is, therefor, a double duty latch.

Another object and advantage of this invention is to make the latch member reversible for use on doors hung either right handed or left handed.

Still another advantage of this invention is that it is fool-proof by making the head of the latch member in the shape of a parrot head or Roman nose, which will fill the opening in the latch case and prevent children from putting their fingers or thin objects into said opening, causing accidents of one kind or another.

These and other objects and advantages will be made clear from the subjoined description with the aid of the attached drawing.

Since the latch construction consists of only three main parts, namely the bolt, the casing, and the strike plate, it will be evident that it can be manufactured cheaply and also assembled or reversed more quickly than a conventional latch, also applied tov doors hung right hand as well as left hand, since the latch head and the strike plate are both reversible.

These and other objects and advantages will be apparent from the subjoined description with the aid of the attached drawing.

Figure l is a side elevation of the latch casing open, and with the left side plate removed and the strike plate in position;

Figure 2 is a horizontal section along line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a face View of the strike plate;

Figure 4 is a horizontal section along line 4-4 of Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a vertical section on line 5-5 of Figure 1 of the operating cam.

In the drawings like numerals relate to the same details in the different views.

The latch casing in general is marked numeral l0, and is stamped out of thin sheet metal and of box-like construction, consisting of a substantially square right hand side plate I l with front,

rear, top and bottom surrounding walls I2, l3, l4 and I5 respectively. To the front wall [2 is permanently secured a face plate H5, which is longer and somewhat wider than the front wall l2 and has screw holes H for securing'the box casing in a suitable recess cut out from the edge in the wood of the solid door IS. The leftside plate of the casing is'removably mounted on the pivot pin 23.

the casing lo which has, for this purpose, smallpositioning corner lugs 2i engaging corresponding notches in plate 20.

Substantially centrally of the casing 10 is provided a pivot pin 23, riveted or welded on the inside of the right hand plate H, which pivot, pin has a threaded recess for a securing screw'z i, to hold the left hand plate H firmly in position on the casing it.

The two armed bolt member marked in general 25 is hung to swing freely with its hub 25 on The arms are directed diametrically opposite each other and terminate in indentical bolt heads, one being designed A and the other 3. These heads are reversed; so that the top and left side of head A becomes the bottom and right side of the head B. Referring first to bolt head A, the front edge or Roman nose 3t, rising from the horizontal bottom or base line 3i, forms an arc swung substantially concentric from the center of the hub 25, and terminates with a rounded point 32 at the top. The upper edge of the arm curves down and, as at 33, narrows towards the hub 25. About midway between the hub 25 and the are 39 on the horizontal bottom or base Si is provided a lug 34 adapted for contacting with the cam 36. The front face of the Roman nose 35, as seen in FigureB, shows the same with vertical left surface Sim, horizontal edges at top 32 and bottom 3! and a downwardly and inwardly sloping right hand surface 38 for entering the'tapering opening St in the strike plate id. It will be seen that the Roman nose at on the bolt head tapers from the left side or surface forwardly across the thickness of the head, forming a sloping or beveled face 3% which facilitates actuation of the latch in the closing of the door. This face rides onto the curved wing ill on the strike plate at which forces the head to swing inwardly. By the provision of a cross cut or notch 5c in the bottom face 3! of the latch head A at the, back of said Roman nose, a means is provided for foiling any attempt by a burgler or sneak thief to lift the bolt by inserting a thin blade between the keeper or strike plate and the face of the lock, since such a blade would enter the notch and in attempting to raise the bolt the blade locks against the face of the plate It.

As already stated, the bolt head B is identical with head A only reversed so that point 32 points downwards, while lug 34 points upwards, so that the cam 36 can ride thereon and receive the lug in the recess 42. The cam 36 has a square shaped, central hole 43, thru which runs the operating spindle 41 which carries the usual door knobs (not shown) and has a key slot 41a running lengthwise thereof. The operating square hole in the cam has a keyway 411) on one side, to receive a lug 48 on a key bar 49 sliding in the slot 41a.

Surrounding the square hole 43, the cam 36 has a cylindrical boss 44 on each side, by means of which the cam is supported for rotation in corresponding openings 44a in the side plates H and 20. Each of these openings has formed in the edge thereof a notch 44b which is in line with the key-way 4Tb whereby upon movement of the key bar 49 to a predetermined extent the lug 48 will engage in one of these notches 44b and se cure or look the cam 36 against rotation upon the application of turning stress to the spindle 41. This slotted spindle 41, bar 49, looking lug 48 and notches 44b all form a part of the knob lock mechanism forming the subject matter of my co-pending application Serial No. 788,755, filed November 28, 1947 now Patent No. 2,556,918 dated June 12, 1951.

The cam 36 is provided in front and rear with a cam finger 45 and 45, each having an upwardly curved cam surface forming continuations of the recess 42. A stop pin 360. being mounted in the side plate ll immediately above the center of the cam 36 to limit the directional movements of the latter.

The cam 36 is located to the right of the pivot pin 23 as seen in Figure 1, and head A is accordingly operated by the spindle 41 thru one of the fingers of the cam 36 contacting with the lug 34 of head B when the spindle 4'! is turned. A fiat spring 49 contacts at one end with said head B urging it upwardly in order to swing the head A into latching position. The other end of said flat spring is accordingly firmly secured in a slot in a pin 48a, welded or in any other suitable manner permanently secured on the inner face of the right side plate II.

The arrangement of the parts arranged as illustrated in Figure 1, is for a left hand door, that is to say, a door swinging from left to right to close.

For a right hand door, the bolt member 26 must be reversed for the bolt head B to project thru the opening Ilia in the face plate l6, and the strike plate will be inverted to position the wing 4| upon the proper side for engagement by the beveled face b of the bolt.

It should be particularly noted that with the V-shaped latch opening in the strike plate and the sideways tapering Roman nose latch head which fills the opening in the face plate as well as in the strike plate, there is maintained at all times a tight engagement between the bolt head and the strike plate which prevents rattling, regardless of swelling or shrinkage of the door. That is, when the atmosphere is damp and the door swells the latch bolt will not go down in the V opening of the strike plate so far but when the atmosphere is dryer and the door shrinks, then the bolt will go down farther in the strike plate opening and the desired close contact will be maintained between the sloping face 38 of the bolt and the inclined edge of the opening 39.

It is to be understood that the invention as herein disclosed may be varied from the details described and shown without departure from the spirit of the subjoined claims.

I claim:

l. A reversible door latch of the character described, comprising a fiat casing including spaced side walls and a front wall, the front wall having a bolt opening therein, a pivot member disposed across the casing between said side walls, a two arm bolt member having a bearing between the arms, the bearing receiving said pivot for the oscillation of the member between and in a plane paralleling said side walls, a bolt head forming the terminus for each arm, said bolt heads being identical in form but in reversed relation, each bolt head being adaptedto position in and partially project through the wall opening to, close the opening, each bolt head having a top face which when the bolt head is in said opening is directed downwardly and forwardly with respect to the top of the opening to facilitate the upward and inward swinging of the head for its retraction from the opening, each bolt head further having a sloping side face directed across the bolt at its forward end and disposed beneath the said top face when the bolt is in operative position in the wall opening, said sloping side face being adapted for striking engagement with a strike plate, each of said bolt heads carrying a cam lug upon the edge thereof which is downwardly directed when the bolt head is in position in said opening, an oscillatable cam element within the casing adapted to rotate on an axis paralleling said pivot and engaging the lug of the head remote from said wall opening, and spring means within the casing engaging said bolt member to urge oscillation of the latter in a direction to project the bolt head remote from the camming means through said opening.

2. A reversible door latch of the character stated in claim 1, wherein said camming member comprises two oppositely directed arms disposed in the plane of oscillation of the bolt member and each having a downwardly bowed camming edge for engagement with the adjacent lug and an upwardly curving recess joining said camming edges and into which the adjacent lug engages when the bolt head forming the terminus of the arm remote from the camming member is at rest in the Wall opening.

WILLARD F. HAMPTON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 464,478 Matthews Dec. 1, 1891 477,446 Page June 21, 1892 665,772 Diffendaffer Jan. 8, 1901 947,996 OBrien Feb. 1, 1910 1,471,061 Reineman Oct. 16, 1923 1,656,818 Dillon Jan. 17, 1928 1,668,553 Douglas May 8, 1928 1,708,444 Hampton Apr. 9, 1929 

